As you know if you’ve been paying even a modicum of attention to the cinematic landscape in recent days, superhero films are big, big business. Comic book giant Marvel is expanding their already rather large cinematic universe, and their chief funny book competitor, DC, is ramping up one of their own. Kicking off in earnest with next year’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, DC is pushing for a ton of movies over the next few years.
According to Variety, Jeff Bewkes, CEO of Time Warner, spent some time during the corporation’s annual meeting in Atlanta recently showing off promos for a few of Warner Bros.’ upcoming films, including Dawn of Justice. Talking up the rampant fan anticipation surrounding that film, he reconfirmed that the studio has plans to release ten movies based on DC comics over the next few years.
This isn’t really news to fans, as they made their intentions clear last fall when they announced their schedule of superhero films that will hit theaters between Dawn of Justice and the year 2020. What it does is confirm how much focus, company wide, not just in the movie arm, is on these products. It certainly appears that the impending DC Cinematic Universe has the full backing of the Time Warner machine.
They have laid out a seriously ambitious plan moving into the next few years. Check out the titles and when they're expected to hit theaters ahead...
Batman V Superman - March 25, 2016
Suicide Squad - August 5, 2016
Wonder Woman - 2017
Justice League (Part 1) - 2017
Aquaman - 2018
The Flash - 2018
Shazam - 2019
Justice League Part 2 - 2019
Cyborg - 2020
Green Lantern - 2020
Obviously, if these turn out to be successful, and we’re fairly certain they will all make a crap ton of money, you can bet that DC and WB will continue kicking out the jams beyond 2020 and well into the future. This initial volley is just their opening shot in the cinematic comic book wars that are to come, and it’s looking like it will be a doozy of a time. If nothing else, the first wave promises to be a blast.
Like their competitor, the DC movies will often include more than just the superhero of the title, and there will be lots of connections running through these films. We know that Batman v Superman will introduce us to, at least in some as yet unknown capacity, Wonder Woman and Aquaman, played by Gal Gadot and Jason Momoa, respectively. And while we don’t know much in the way of details, the pieces are starting to come together for many of these films, like Ezra Miller being cast as the Flash, and James Wan being hired to helm Aquaman.
